the three primary lan types are local area network lan ,metropolitan area network,and wide area network wan

the major differance between the three types is the covered distance.the network in its simplest form can be two computers at home...the desktop or tower style pc and the laptop with direct connection between them using cable.

NETWORK TOPOLOGIES

Within the definition of a network,nodes are connected by communication paths.these paths vary significantly depending on implementation of paths.

The way the paths are implemented is called topology.we can have 4 basic topologies...bus,star,ring and mesh.

The network designer should put these topolgies into consideration to choose the best one for the required solution.

Finally ,the ward topology refers to the physical layout of the network...for example when we are using switch in Ethernet network and as this switch is central point from which the cables come from ,this layout is called STAR TOPOLOGY ....on the other hand IN the RING TOPOLOGY the stations are connected to each other by links to form single closed loop.

THE BUS TOPOLOGY:

for this topology the stations transmission propagate the entire length of medium and the transmission are received by all nodes on the medium.

Network purpose:

The main purpose of networking is sharing resources like printers and scanners...for example if u have 6 pcs connected as a network,instead of buying 6 printers one for each pc..you can use only one printer for the whole network.so u can print files from any pc using the same printer...this is what we call resource sharing.the other type of sharing is files and folders sharing...u can access a folder in another computer in the network if this folder is shared (from folder properties).

Wireless lan:

In wireless lan we use the radio frequency (RF) instead of usual wires(utp cats-category 5 cables) with RG45 plugs.

this radio frequency link the components of wireless lan to transfer digital data over them.

we can also merge the wired and wireless world to get the best of both.

the common frequency range we use in wireless lan is 2.4 ghz which is free license frequency...actually it ranges from 2.4 to 2.484 ghz.

ACCESS POINT (AP)

IT is the central point in all wireless networks...it is the connected point between the wired and wireless networks.

when we go to a coffee shop that supports wi fi technology we use our laptops to communicate with the hot spot (access point) in that place ...in turn this access point is wired to known Internet infrastructure.